1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an article control system and an encoded marker used therein, and more particularly, to a system in which an article of luggage having an encoded marker attached thereto is monitored from a remote location and thus guided to a proper destination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Article control systems, upon which this invention has improved, are conventionally employed in applications where articles of luggage are required to be transferred to many different locations. There presently exists two main categories of such systems: manual and automated.
Manual article control systems entail affixing a label containing a destination code and/or address directly to an article and thereafter visually reading the affixed label to determine the proper routing required to allow the article to reach its proper destination. Such systems are personnel dependent, thus in applications where large volumes of articles are transferred to many different locations human error or misreading of labels becomes increasingly detrimental to the efficiency of the system. Also, visually reading the affixed label requires correct positioning and the proper lighting of the article.
Existing automated article control systems entail affixing a color coded tag or bar code to an article, such tags or bar codes contain inscripted information about the article such as a name, address or destination. An article to which a tag or bar code is affixed upon passing by a visual scanner conveys its inscripted information to a signal generating device enabling a routing mechanism to guide the article to its proper destination. The major drawbacks of these tags or codes is that they require proper orientation of the color coded tag or bar code to the visual scanner and any obstruction between the tag or code and the scanner disables the system. As a result of this such automated article control system are less efficient and reliable than expected.